Colostrum as a natural product synthesized in the mammary gland of mammalians has been known the most important source of nutrients and immunoglobulins for infants, particularly in ruminants for many years. In ruminants, at the parturition time the digestive system of infants is not developed completely and needs to be matured morphologically and functionally. This developmental process is essential for a transition from blood nutrition to digestive nutrition and more importantly adaptation to the environment. Colostrum as the main source of nutrients and non-nutrients has the key role in this situation. The transition period for the infants includes the metabolic, hormonal and immunological status which is significantly dependent to colostrum components.
Colostrum as the primary milk contains considerable amount of essential fatty acids, essential amino acids, minerals, essential trace elements, pre-vitamins, fat and water soluble vitamins, non-nutrient components (immunoglobulins and anti-bacterial substances), epithelial cells (lactocytes), erythrocytes and leukocytes. Most of the non-nutrient and bioactive compounds of the cow's colostrum is derived from the maternal blood including Gl (immunoglobulin gamma), GH (growth hormone), Prl (prolactin), Ins (insulin) and Glu (glucagon). Other colostral factors are derived from the lactocytes of the mammary gland which includes IGF-I binding proteins, and peptides and proteins. Casein and lactose are couple of important nutrients which come to the milk after colostrum production. But, recently it has been shown which there are many other considerable components in the colostrum of ruminants such as releasing factors (RF), growth factors (GF), cytokines, prostaglandins (PG), enzymes, lactoferrin (LF), transferrin (TF), nucleotides, polyamines and oligosaccharides. The interesting point in this relation is the species dependency and difference between the concentration of these components in different animals, particularly ruminants, and their significant decline after 24 hours after parturition.
Reviewing the history of researches done on the colostrum reveals a new world in this case which has been gradually completed. In 1976 the specific effect of colostral components on morphological changes of calf digestive system was shown. Afterward in 1978, the existence of mitogenic materials in the colostrum and it's difference in different species was discovered. The effect of these components on cell proliferation, immigration, differentiation and apoptosis of the digestive epithelium, and also protein synthesis, digestion, absorption, motility and immune system of gastrointestinal tract of calves made a special field of research. Metabolism, endocrine, vascular tone, homeostasis, growth and behavior of the calf and lamb are other studied parameters in this regard. Ruminant infants are pseudo-monogastric at the birth time, and their digestive system is developed very quickly which are due to be a real ruminant after several weeks. This development is also related to accessory organs of the GIT such as pancreas and liver, which enables the infants to stop pinocytotic absorption and start cellular digestion in a week. Any deficiency in this mechanism which is dependent to the non-nutrient components of the colostrum makes a serious problem. It has been shown the early hours of the birth are very crucial time for these physiological changes for the digestive system, and colostral non-nutrient components are able to stimulate the epithelial cells to grow. It has been suggested different mechanisms for maturation of digestive system in ruminant infants which covers paracrine, autocrine and endocrine systems for luminokines, gastrin, cholecystokinin, secretin, VIP, motilin, pancreatic poly peptide, somatostatin, IGF-I and insulin of the colostrum.
Recent studies in this field reveal the colostrum dependency of digestive immune system, particularly the lymphocyte development by involving the hormonal and growth factors existing in the colostrum. This pattern is also copied by adding the IGF-I prepared from transgenic bacteria.
There are many other researches in this field which is out of the scope of this application, but some of them are registered as international patents which is necessary to be mentioned. Scour is a serious disease or syndrome of infants which have been under investigation for many years and many natural and synthetic anti-scour drugs and compounds have been suggested for it's prevention or treatment. The registered patents in this case numbered U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,192,886, 4,285,972, 4,332,814, 4,520,014, 5,080,895, 5,795,602, 5,928,640, 6,066,341, 6,291,449, 6,365,152, 6,495,567, 6,967,090, 6,974,577, 7,045,149, 7,252,836, 7,309,493, 7,371,401 and 7,384,628 since 1980 to 2008 are just registered in the USA over three decades. All these patents show an evolution of different methods for fighting against the scour syndrome, particularly in ruminant infants. The noticeable point is the substitution of natural products for antibiotics in recent years to prevent the human concern about antibiotic resistance.
Regarding all the details in the patents and their products reveal different point of view as looking for an effective anti-scour material. As I tried searching and thinking in this field I more focused on the overall idea of all these patents and searching the basic cause of scour in ruminant infants, and finally to enrich the probable deficiency of the colostrum by using natural components. In this case, this research from the beginning to the end and claiming the invention took five years and five different stages of experiments.